Air Quality in Cities of the Extreme South of Brazil
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Ecotoxicol. Environ. Contam., v. 15, n. 1, 2020, 61-67 doi: 10.5132/eec.2020.01.08 Air quality in cities of the extreme south of Brazil Silva Júnior, F.M.R.1,2*, Honscha, L.C.1,2, Brum, R.L.1,2, Ramires, P.F.1,2, Tavella, R.A.1,2, Fernandes, C.L.F.1,2, Penteado, J.O.1,2, Bonifácio, A.S.1, Volcão, L.M.1,2, Santos, M.1,2 & Coronas, M.V.3 1 Instituto de Ciências Biológicas (ICB), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande - FURG 2 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde, Faculdade de Medicina (FAMED), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande – FURG 3 Universidade Federal de Santa Maria Received July 12, 2020; Accept September 03, 2020 Abstract The region comprised of cities located in the extreme south of Brazil has numerous potential sources of pollution, such as industries, mining and agricultural activities. Despite this, they do not have detailed scientific information regarding air quality. The present study aimed to evaluate air quality in nine municipalities in the extreme south of Brazil, based on the monitoring of six pollutants (O3, NO2, SO2, PM2.5, PM10 and CO) present in Brazilian environmental legislation and the relationship of these pollutants with meteorological parameters. Information on air pollutants and meteorological parameters was collected from satellite data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts “Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service”, extracted using The Wealther Channel (IBM, USA) during the period ranged from April 25, 2020 to July 4, 2020 in Rio Grande, Pelotas, Bagé, Candiota, Hulha Negra, Pedras Altas, Aceguá and Herval. The concentration of pollutants was below Brazilian limits, with the exception of a single episode in the municipality of Rio Grande. Temperature was the meteorological parameter most correlated with air pollutants, except for SO2, but in general, all pollutants correlated (positive or negative) with at least one atmospheric parameter. Finally, the composition of air pollutants in each municipality seems to be related to its local economic activity. We encourage the continuity of studies in the region aiming at a complete temporal analysis that encompasses all seasons. Keywords: Correlation analysis, Criteria air pollutants, Meteorological parameters, Rio Grande do Sul, Urban air quality. INTRODUCTION exposure to these compounds is associated with cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic and immune system problems (Kampa & Since 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) has Castanas 2008). It is estimated that 91% of the world population classified external air pollution as a carcinogen for humans lives in regions with polluted air and that 4.2 million people and recent studies have shown that living and breathing air die annually worldwide as a result of exposure to external air in large urban centers is equivalent to the smoke inhaled by pollution (World Health Organization, 2020). active smokers (IARC, 2013). However, the harmful effects Among the health problems related to air pollution are of air pollutants go beyond the carcinogenic effects, since respiratory and cardiovascular problems (Anderson et al., *Corresponding author: Flávio Manoel Rodrigues da Silva Júnior; e-mail: [email protected] 62 Ecotoxicol. Environ. Contam., v. 15, n. 1, 2020 Silva Júnior et al. 2012; Kim et al., 2018; Pope et al., 2015; Rabiei et al., 2017), Although these sources of pollution are capable of affecting mental disorders (Khan et al., 2019), reduced intellectual air quality, the number of studies about atmospheric pollution capacity (Chen & Schwartz, 2009; Kilian and Kitazawa, 2018) in this region is very small and limited to concentration levels and the appearance of several types of cancers (IARC, 2013; (Gutierrez et al., 2020) or composition of inhalable particles. World Health Organization, 2018). These impairments to The latter being represented by studies that investigated the the health of the populations are more intense in developing presence of lead in the airborne PM in the city of Rio Grande countries, since these countries associate rapid urbanization, (Vanz et al., 2003) and that assessed NO2 levels in the city of accelerated industrial development and intensive use of mineral Candiota (Dallarosa et al., 2004). resources and fossil fuels (Mannucci & Franchini, 2017). In this sense, the present study aimed to evaluate air Despite this critical scenario in developing countries, quality in nine municipalities in the extreme south of Brazil, the number of studies on air quality assessment in these based on the monitoring of six pollutants (O3, NO2, SO2, regions is still small (Lindén et al., 2012), and environmental PM2.5, PM10 e CO) and the relationship of these pollutants with monitoring in these regions is scarce and infrequent (Han & meteorological parameters. Naeher, 2006). In Latin America, studies on air pollution are limited to a few cities (Fajersztajn et al., 2017). Furthermore, MATERIAL AND METHODS in Brazil, less than 2% of all municipalities have an air quality monitoring station and not all air pollutants are monitored at these stations (Réquia et al., 2015). Study area In 2018, a new legal provision on air quality took effect in The study area (Figure 1) comprises 9 municipalities Brazil, taking into account the parameters already established by located in the extreme south of Brazil, in the State of Rio WHO in 2005 (CONAMA, 2018). According to this provision, Grande do Sul. Pelotas (approx. 328 thousand inhabitants), some of the pollutants that must be monitored are ozone (O ), 3 Rio Grande (approx. 197 thousand inhabitants) and Bagé nitrogen dioxide (NO ), sulfur dioxide (SO ), inhalable particles 2 2 (approx. 117 thousand inhabitants) are the largest cities in the (PM and PM ) and carbon monoxide (CO). 10 2.5 region. The other municipalities have smaller populations: The region of the present study comprises municipalities Pinheiro Machado (12,780 inhabitants), Candiota (8,771 with problems related to environmental pollution that have inhabitants), Herval (6,753 inhabitants), Hulha Negra (6,043 already been widely discussed (da Silva Júnior et al., 2013, inhabitants), Aceguá (4,394 inhabitants) and Pedras Altas 2019; Gutierrez et al., 2020; Tavares et al., 2018). Among the (2,212 inhabitants) (Brasil, 2010). The economy of these sources of pollution are vehicular traffic and industrial complex municipalities is based on industrial activities, trade and (Rio Grande and Pelotas) and mining activities (other cities). services (Group I - Rio Grande and Pelotas), trade, agriculture Figure 1. Map of the studied region. Air quality in cities of the extreme south of Brazil Ecotoxicol. Environ. Contam., v.15, n. 1, 2020 63 and livestock (Group II - Bagé), agriculture, livestock and Pelotas were WSW and NE, while in Bagé they were N and extraction and industrial use of ores (Group III - Candiota, SW (Figure 2). The average values and the range of pollutants Pinheiro Machado, Pedras Altas, Hulha Negra) and trade, analyzed in each city are summarized in Table 1. The pollutants agriculture and livestock (Group IV - Aceguá and Herval). O3, CO, PM10 and PM2.5 had higher averages in Rio Grande and Pelotas when compared to the other municipalities, Data Collection and Analysis while NO2 and SO2 had higher values in the municipalities of Candiota, Pinheiro Machado and Pedras Altas. The limits -3 The concentration levels (µg m ) of air pollutants (O3, set by CONAMA in Resolution 491/2018 were exceeded only NO , SO , PM , PM and CO), humidity (%), atmospheric 2 2 2.5 10 once during the analyzed period (PM2.5 in Rio Grande) (data pressure (mb) and wind speed (m/s) were collected from not shown). In general, the pollutants’ temporal behavior was satellite data from the European Center for Medium-Range similar between Rio Grande and Pelotas and also showed Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) “Copernicus Atmospheric some similarity when analyzing the temporal profile of the Monitoring Service”, extracted daily at 12 ± 1 pm, with the other seven municipalities (Figure 3, a-i). The Cluster analysis aid of The Wealther Channel (IBM, USA) app. grouped the following municipalities by similarity: Cluster 1, The data of wind speed and direction, rainfall (mm) and Rio Grande and Pelotas; Cluster 2, Bagé and Hulha Negra; average temperature (º C) were obtained from data available Cluster 3, Aceguá and Herval; and Cluster 4, Candiota, Pedras by automatic stations of the National Meteorological Institute Altas and Pinheiro Machado (Figure 4), with the exception (INMET 2020). The analysis period ranged from April 25, of Cluster II, the construction of Clusters was related to the 2020 to July 4, 2020. Wind roses were plotted using the predominant type of economic activities (represented by WRPLOT View ™ software (version 8.0.2), while Pearson’s Groups I, II, III and IV). correlation analysis (p <0.05) and Cluster analysis using the The correlations between Atmospheric Pollutants and Euclidean distance were performed using the STATISTICA Meteorological Parameters are shown in Table 2. Wind speed 7.0 software. had a significant weak negative correlation with all pollutants, except for O3, where the correlation was positive (weak). RESULTS The temperature showed a significant positive correlation with all pollutants (with the exception of SO2). Atmospheric The winds in the region were predominantly of low and pressure had a negative correlation with NO2 and CO and medium intensity. The dominant directions in Rio Grande and a weak positive correlation with O3. O3 also had a negative